Sacrifice
by NeonZangetsu
Summary: Death comes for us all. If we cannot stop for it, it stops for us. But there are those who can resist death. There are those who survive, no matter the cost. For the sake of their loved ones. And then there are those who suffer for love. NarutoxMiranda!


**A/N: Yet another short story to whittle away the time while I languish here in my bed. Four days and counting, peoplz! Almost there! Anyway, yet another pairing from the mind of Neonzangetsu! This may be the last one for awhile, as once I get the game I'm gonna be hella busy playing it. Still, I hope u enjoy this potential AU divergence into the world of Mass Effect. But will you?**

**Only time will tell...**

_There is darkness inside all of us. The only difference is what we make of it._

_~Saren._

**Indoctrination**

_My name is Uzumaki Naruto, and I am a biotic. One of the strongest, next to Subject Zero. I am known as Subject X. Well, at least, that's what THEY classify me as. In truth, I'm really something much more than that. But I didn't come here to tell you that. I didn't come here to give you my life story, though that's probably what you'll interpret it as. No. Not at all. I've come here for one reason, and one reason only. Well, two, actually._

_I came here to mourn. And to curse those damnable reapers who do the work of their holier-than-thou lord almighty. Personally, I think its all a bunch of bullshit. Try telling that to a certain commander and you'll get a bullet through your skull. But Shepard isn't here right now. Now one is "here"; because I don't even know where the hell "here" is. I think I died. I think I'm dead, but I've already died before, haven't I? That's how I came to this wonderfuly forsaken galaxy._

_But I digress._

_Even growing up, I never really believed in God. First as a kid in the orphanage. Then working as a shinobi for my village. Then as an "biotic", though I still don't think myself to be one. It was too hard to believe that any being would create so much misery on purpose. There was only one bright spot in all that darkness...and it was you. I miss you. Your smile. Your laugh. Your love of the little things. Mostly I miss talking to you._

_Never really talked to you. Not really. Didn't want you to know what I was. I wish I'd told you...everything. When were were kids, I hated it. I couldn't talk to you. Couldn't tell you what I was. Couldn't make you see. Now its too late. No one can forgive me. You were pure though. You can forgive me. I _hope_ you can forgive me..._

_I never wanted this darkness inside me. I never wanted it to put out your light. Its inside me. Fighting to get out. It wants to extinguish the light in the world. I've been keeping it deep down for two years. Punishing it for what it did to us. For what it did to you._

**_Ugh!_**

_But its getting harder. It keeps reminding me how I failed you. Mordin tells me I don't have much time left. May as well make good use of it. I need you to know who I am. Maybe then I'll stop seeing you everywhere. I need to tell you now. What I never told you. What I never could tell you. I'm so sorry, Miranda. I'm so sorry, Shepard. I'm so sorry...everyone. I'm sorry for everything. __I need to tell you the truth. But to do that I need to start over. I need to go back. Back to the day I first cursed this universe with my renewed existence. Back to the beginning._

_I need to start from the very beginning..._

* * *

_(Nearly a decade earlier)_

In the words of a well known mercenary, rage makes for one hell of an anesthetic.

But even an anesthetic wasn't enough to dull the pain he was in. It consumed his heart, driving him forward, at the cost of his life. He could already feel himself dying, slipping away even as he stormed into the office. He'd used too much biotic power. Burned out his implants. His body was shutting down. He didn't have much time left. The boy knew this. Knew he was dying from the countless experiments performed upon his person. The man he was about to confront, however, did not know this.

The guards raised their rifles as he approached the door and he lashed out, reducing them to gory smears across the walls and floor; shaving yet another year off his lifespan. What did it matter? He was already dead, his mind just didn't know it yet. His boot struck the doors with enough force to crater a mountain, a surge of biotic power distorting both space and time as he forced his way through the kinetic barriers and into the office.

He stomped toward the desk, brandishing a pistol.

"Greetings, Uzumaki Naruto."

The operative had proved himself many times and was a very important part of the man's operation. One might even say he was crucial to its continued wealth and prosperity. He had blond hair and blue eyes that harkened back to his japanese ancestry. But the shape of his face and the color of his skin, his whiskered cheeks, hinted at what might have been come Chinese DNA as well.

_Uzumaki Naruto._

Ah, yes. That was his name. It had been so long now that he'd nearly forgotten. The voices in his head tore at him, threatening to drown out his concsiousness once more. He resisted. With all his might, he resisted the effects of the indoctrination. _Just a little more._ Just a little longer, and he could finally die. But not yet. Not until he brokered a deal with the scum sitting before him.

Naruto turned to the man who spoke to him. He was dressed in a neat pressed blue uniform, various medals decorating it. He sat with his hands folded before him, his chest puffed out. A black beard obscured his expression, but his eyes were twisted with scorn, and shaded by a hat covering his head. The man's presence reeked of authority and arrogance, which was understandable...considering he was surrounded by a squad of soldiers, each of whom bore weapons of the highest calibre. So the big man thought he was safe because he had a few extra guns?

_**Kill this man.**_ The voices in his head-_the damnable voices-_commanded, rising into a crescendo of agony in the back of his skull. _**Kill kill kill...**_

_No!_

With a shout of exquisite agony, Naruto pressed the muzzel of the weapon to the side of his head instead.

"Don't!" The man shouted, losing his composure for the briefest instant, his voice tinged with desperation. Naruto grinned. _Gotcha._ He kept the pistol to his head, his finger a mere millimeter from the trigger. "Don't," He repeated, softer this time, beckoning for his men to lower their weapons. "Surely we can come to some sort of agreement." The hook as set. Now Naruto had but to bait it.

"Let's make a trade." He said, his finger tightening on the blessed release that wound end his life. "My life for Miranda and her sister."

"You mean _my_ daughters." The man corrected.

"You have no right to call them that, you son of a bitch." Naruto hissed, flinching, the words blending with the symphony of whispers in his head. "Just as you have no right to call me your son." For a small moment, he thought of pulling the trigger, just to spite the man. But what wouldn't do him any good. Nor would it Miranda, and her sister. Their safety was his utmost priority, first and foremost. He had to ensure it; had to make sure no pursued him, had to make sure that Lawson would be content with hism as a prize instead.

"I'm impressed you're still able to resist the effects of indoctrination." Miranda's "father" if he could even be called that, continued. "You're stronger than I thought." A flash, of agony, rippling across the back of his brain. Resist? _No._ Not at all. He wasn't resisting the indoctrination. He was enduring it; harnessing the power, if offered and turning back the tide. By no means was he resisting. Enduring, yes. Suffering, most likely. But resisting? Not in the slightest

"No thanks to you." Naruto growled, his eyes flickering a luminous white as he struggled against the mighty prescence within his mind. "But I'm stronger than you think."

The man steepled his hands.

"So it would seem."

"Do we have a deal or not?" Naruto hissed.

"You know she'll hate you for this."

There was a silence.

Then:

_"I know."_

And you're willing to surrender yourself into my possession?" Lawson pressed, his eyes keen. "To subject yourself to more experimentation, without protest?"

He had two options.

**Blow the man's head off and risk Miranda's safety.**

OR

_Surrender and guarantee her at least a few years of peace and prosperity while he still lived._

He wanted to go with the _A_ option. He wanted to pulp the man's head with a wave of his hand and be done with him. But Naruto knew what would happen if he did that; when he killed Lawson his men would open fire, and his weakened biotics wouldn't be able to deflect them. He wasn't wearing armor. Just civilian attire. If they opened fire on him if they started shooting, he wouldn't survive. And he wouldn't be able to see Miranda again. He wasn't her brother biologically, Lawson had cloned him from the genes of one the greatest biotics to ever exist, and tossed in a random variange of genese for the sake of individuality.

Biologically speaking, he didn't owe Miranda anything. Nothing at all. Un-biologically speaking...he loved her. _Aargh!_ He winced as thought exploded like a firecracker against a series of nerve endings. His feelings for Miranda, who had been created years after him in Lawson's hope of creating the ultimate human, were not false. They were true. True as an autumn sunset and just as sad. _Damn but he didn't have much of a choice._ If he refused, he guaranteed himself his death, and, Miranda's. If he agreed, then at the very least he'd buy the two of them a few years.

He had to accept.

_"Yes."_

"And in exchange you want me to leave Miranda alone."

"I want you to leave _both_ of them alone, you gutless prick."

Lawson chuckled.

"And I will, I assure you. So long as you remain of use to me, of course."

Someone slapped the pistol from his hand, and then there was only darkness.

**A/N: Yeah, sad short and depressing. Sorry about that! I became curious as to how Miranda escaped from her father. What if she had a friend? What if said friend sacrificed something in exchange for her escape? Yeah, seriously fanshipping, I know. But seriously, can you blame me? Mass Effect is only days away now and I've got the FEVER baby! The choice engine will be included in this as well! And yes, Naruto somehow escapes, but as you can see, he is coping with the nasty effect of indoctrination. Will he survive it? Or will he be subsumed, just like all the others?**

**Only time will tell!**

**R&R! =D**


End file.
